AMHERST, Mass. - The UMass basketball team will be wearing retro throwback jerseys for Saturday's game against Memphis at the TD Garden on Saturday. They are being worn as a tribute to the teams of the 1960s and 1970s at the school. The likes of Julius Erving, Al Skinner and Rick Pitino wore jerseys similar to the ones the Minutemen will don on Saturday. They will be worn later this season at the Leaman Legacy Game on Feb. 3, 2010 vs. Xavier as well.

"It will be great for the thousands of UMass fans of the modern days to see the uniforms worn by the teams of the 60s and 70s," said Derek Kellogg, who graduated from UMass in 1995. "These are the jerseys are like the ones worn by legendary players such as Julius Erving. This is a great tribute to all of the players who have helped build the program to where it is today. We are looking forward to a great game against a great team, in Boston at the Garden."

Saturday's game will be televised nationally on ESPN2, giving increased exposure to the throwbacks.

The jerseys are very simple white featuring the maroon block "MASSACHUSETTS" with serifs and simple maroon numerals. UMass' teams from 1963 through 1977 wore several incarnations of the jerseys as the team played as the Redmen before changing to the Minutemen in 1972.

Under coach Jack Leaman, UMass appeared in six NITs wearing uniforms similar to these (1970, 71, 73, 74, 75 and 77)

The shorts feature the same design from that era as well, but are much longer than the short-shorts worn several decades ago. They shorts feature a maroon multi-line pattern outlining the shorts and two fat stripes on the waistline.